Every holiday calls for a special taste treat as my husband used to say. Over Labor Day Week-end it was this! Only 5 ingredients and a Cuisinart were the essentials. Just so easy compared to the ol’ days!
Try this Blackberry Sorbet too!
You taste one Spice Cake and you’ve tasted them all. Not true! A cake that will surely become a favorite! Looking for new birthday cake recipes! This was sent to me by my eldest as a possibility. Directly from Bake From Scratch Magazine but not exactly. The ingredients being advertised in this recipe were Heilala Pure Vanilla Extract (one of the best bourbon vanilla’s, so they say) which kinda gets lost in the spicy cake, and Heilala Vanilla Bean Paste. I can’t wait to try this vanilla extract in my Chantilly Cream. If you look closely you can see the crushed vanilla bean seeds in the frosting. Now that’s a great frosting! It may seem like literally too much frosting for the cake … But it works!
When putting together the Citrus Ricotta Cookies I noticed an additional recipe by Beads and Basil in Values, an Owasso & Collinsville Values Magazine. I knew if I baked these first I’d be making them mostly for me. Chocolate is a favorite flavor of mine. Not that my visiting family friend wouldn’t enjoy chocolate too but he had his heart set on the Citrus Cookies. My thought about the triple chocolate cookie was … Is it going to be too chocolatey? You might be thinking nothing is too chocolatey! To me when there is too much I can’t appreciate the other additional flavors. This is not the case. It truly is a cookie with at least two distinct chocolate flavors, a hint of vanilla and crunch of toasted pecans. Enjoy this recipe I’ve revised slightly to make a smaller bounty without losing the brownie-like chocolatey cookie that amazingly hangs onto its moistness (unlike most brownies).
It’s not unusual for a guy friend of mine to bring along a new recipe when he comes to visit. Anything with ricotta and citrus seems to catch his eye and this recipe has both. (I need to give acknowledgement to Beads and Basil for this recipe she shared in a monthly values magazine.) When I look at a recipe for the first time I not only anticipate the taste, just how good is this going to be, but also the complexity. Sometimes complexity doesn’t equal a better product. Cookies, I usually bake on a whim. So, the recipe must have a simple list of ingredients (mostly already in my pantry) and must be limited in prep time. This original recipe calls for overnight or at least 8 hours. As you might have guessed this is too long for me, and I found a way to cut the time to 4 hours without changing the outcome in my opinion. The prep is simple and the bulk of time is in the freezing. Hope you enjoy this citrusy taste treat. We did!
Yep, I’m old school. Please, no waste! It’s hard for me to discard ingredients as they approach the expiration date. Buttermilk is an ingredient I use frequently but sometimes not fast enough to avoid the dreaded use by date. If you know about buttermilk you know you can go beyond that use by date a bit without consequences. But then the pressure is on. Not to worry, buttermilk does freeze. If you’re like me you’ve got quite a bit going on in your freezer. I just prefer to bake a cake. Buttermilk just adds the most incredible moistness to a cake. With a little over two cups of buttermilk to use I was on the prowl. And here’s what I found. It is amazing!
Now, chocolate chip cookies, I’m a connoisseur! I’ve been baking these since I was 10 or so and I’m … well, let’s not get into details. These are my favorites, Old Fashioned Chocolate Chips, probably because I had eaten them as a kid over and over again. But I must say my children and grandchildren feel the same even if I have to change up the recipe to accommodate those that like certain nuts or without nuts or even without chocolate chips.
Enjoy National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. All these recipes whip up in minutes!
Quick Mix Chocolate Chips
Chocolate Chip Oatmeal
Chocolate Chip Shortbread
Chocolate Chip Cranberry
Chocolate Chocolate Chip
Almond Chocolate Chip
This rustic dessert is perfectly simple and hugely delicious. It was kinda a group effort. First the idea came from a friend of mine (thanks Gayle), who put this together with her pate brisee, peaches, and almond paste (as a little taste surprise). It sounded amazing but since we weren’t into peaches we filled this richest of pie crusts with mixed summer berries and a homemade almond paste. Not to worry! All this whips up quickly. Rustic always lessens time involvement in my mind. We’re looking for something not necessarily picture perfect but rather delicious in a plain and simple way. Although, this is picture perfect to me.
You will need a food processor or Ninja (thanks Dan) for the almond paste. I suppose it’s possible without but definitely would involve time in pulverizing the almonds. It’s just not recommended. The pie crust can be done with a pastry blender easily. Let’s get started!
The moistest chocolate layer cake you’ll ever bake! Not too sweet and just the right amount of chocolate taste. So says my taste tester! What’s the secret? Sour cream and brown sugar add the amazing moisture, and the chocolate … use your very best unsweetened cocoa along with the best vanilla to achieve the just right taste.
This was just what I was craving. Perfect!
Perfect coffee time accompaniment. Not too sweet and a bit of healthy. Actually, this was my breakfast. Hope you enjoy this recipe and if you’re into another berry instead, substitute.
Another of many oatmeal recipes. Try my latest here. A great way to start your day!
Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins
Whether making dessert for 25 or 50, let me make it fast and easy for you. These two cakes made 48 generous slices. They could have been sliced a bit smaller making 30 servings per 1/2 sheet cake pan, 60 total. I love gatherings but used to get exhausted trying to do it all. I found not only is organization key but recipes that look and taste delicious with the least amount of effort are best when serving a large group. I do fall into the believers … deliciousness comes from not only the palate but the visual too. For these cakes I chose attractive gold colored half cake pans. I knew I wasn’t going to remove the baked cakes to another dish. Side by side, they looked lovely on the self-serve dessert table. If you wish to perfect this further, a la Martha Stewart, use a ruler when slicing the entire cake to give the eye the beauty of exactness, and use attractive, sterling perhaps, serving utensils.
Now for the cakes … Just about any three layered cake recipe works. For the German Chocolate Cake I used the Baker’s German Chocolate recipe for the cake and frosting. These recipes are printed on the Baker’s German Chocolate inside wrapper. I’ll list the ingredients later. This cake whips up nicely with a few extra steps like melting the chocolate and beating the egg whites separately. It’s worth it if you love sweet chocolate with a pecan coconut topping. Hard to beat. For the white cake I used this delicious recipe, here. It was time to try a new (to me) white cake recipe. I liked the idea that this one uses whole eggs and doesn’t require the extra step of beating egg whites. It also uses a bit of shortening and I knew this meant the cake would hold moisture. It didn’t disappoint! For the frosting I used my simple butter cream, recipe to follow. A few things to keep in mind when preparing to bake these recipes in a 1/2 sheet cake pan: 1.) Grease and lightly flour your pan wiping off excess on the top edges of the pan. Remember you will be serving the cake in this pan and want it to look tidy. 2.) Spread the batter evenly especially in the corners of the pan. 3.) The cake will bake faster, 15-30 minutes depending on your oven. 4.) Use a toothpick in the center for doneness. Keep in mind the center is likely to take longer to bake. However, the cake will continue to cook when removed from the oven. If the cake is pulling away from the edges of the pan and the toothpick is almost clean when pierced in the center it is safe to remove from the oven and allow the heat to continue the cooking process.
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